CPR training key to building network of lifesavers

Every year, more than 350,000 experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital. Only around 10 percent survive. That doesn’t have to be the case. According to the American Heart Association, proper and immediate administration of CPR – cardio-pulmonary resuscitation – can double, or even triple, the survival rate.

For more than 100 years, the nonprofit American Heart Association has been at the forefront of heart and stroke research and prevention efforts. Since 1949, it has invested more than $6 billion in research, and its effect can be seen a 15 percent reduction in deaths from heart disease since 2018.

CPR education and training has been a big part of the Heart Association’s outreach, with 22 million people each year receiving the life-saving training. Locally, that has been visible in the Mat-Su Valley of Lifesavers Project.

Chrissy Colucci, American Heart Association, Alaska’s executive director, said the two-year initiative is designed to boost CPR skills and cardiac emergency preparedness across the borough.

“This project directly supports the American Heart Association’s mission to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives,” she said. “The Association wants to build a nation of lifesavers, helping individuals go from bystander to lifesaver during a cardiac arrest emergency by knowing how to perform CPR.”

That mission was made easier with the financial help of a $294,337 grant from the Mat-Su Health Foundation. The funding, used to conduct CPR training and install emergency equipment, like defibrillators and infant CPR kits, at numerous locations around the Valley, will help the Association spread the knowledge and capacity of residents to successfully intervene and save a life during a cardiac event.

The nonprofit Mat-Su Health Foundation has been making this kind of investment in community health and wellness since its inception in 2007. As part owner of the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, the Health Foundation has returned more than $140 million of its share of hospital profits to the community through scholarships, sponsorships, and grants to nonprofit organizations across the Valley.

“Grants are essential to the American Heart Association’s ability to scale lifesaving programs and reach communities that need them most,” Colucci said. “Funding from organizations like the Mat-Su Health Foundation brings immense value by allowing the Heart Association to design projects in a way that reflects the unique needs of local communities.”

Grants also help the Association bridge gaps in access to training, equipment, and education. What makes this grant so vital, Colucci said, is that the Mat-Su Valley of Lifesavers Project has a powerful ripple effect. Each CPR kit can be used many times to teach hundreds of people and create a network of lifesavers throughout the borough.

“By engaging youth, families, healthcare providers and community organizations, the initiative builds a shared responsibility for emergency readiness,” she said. “It’s not just about responding to cardiac arrest. It's about creating a culture where everyone feels confident and equipped to act when time is critical during a cardiac arrest.”

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